ISLAMABAD — The Taliban delegation to the Third United Nations-led Doha meeting On expanding engagement in Afghanistan, US envoys met on the sidelines and discussed the two Americans held captive in the Central Asian country.
Zabihullah Mujahid told reporters in Kabul on Wednesday that the meeting aimed to “find a solution.”
He said: “During our meetings we talked about the two American citizens who are prisoners in Afghanistan,” adding: “But they have to accept the Afghan conditions. We also have prisoners in America, prisoners in Guantanamo. We should release our prisoners in exchange for them.”
Special Representative Thomas West and Special Envoy Rina Amiri have spoken directly to the Taliban, State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said. West urged “the immediate and unconditional release of American citizens wrongfully held in Afghanistan,” Patel said Tuesday.
When asked if any progress had been made on the issue, Patel said the matter had “just come up.”
One of two Americans believed to have been held by the Taliban for nearly two years has been Ryan Corbett who was abducted on August 10, 2022, after returning to Afghanistan, where he and his family were living at the time of the abduction the collapse of the US-backed government there a year earlier.
He arrived on a valid 12-month visa to pay and train staff as part of a business venture he ran, aimed at promoting Afghanistan’s private sector through consulting and loans. Corbett has been bounced between prisons since then, though his lawyers say he has not been seen by anyone other than those he was held with since December last year.
It was the first time that representatives of the Afghan Taliban leadership attended the UN-sponsored meeting in the Qatari capital on Sunday and Monday, which focused on deepening engagement with Afghanistan. However, a UN official said Monday that the meeting did not result in recognition of the Taliban government.
Envoys from some two dozen countries also attended the meetings.
The Taliban were not invited to the first meeting, and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said they were setting unacceptable conditions for his attendance at the second meeting in February, which included demands that Afghan citizens be excluded from the negotiations and that the Taliban be treated as the country’s legitimate rulers.
For Doha, representatives of Afghan women were excluded from participatingclearing the way for the Taliban to send their envoys – although organizers insisted that demands for women’s rights be stepped up.
Mujahid said they had the opportunity to meet representatives of different countries and had 24 meetings on the sidelines.
He added that the Taliban’s messages reached “all participating” countries during the meeting. Afghanistan needs cooperation with the private sector and in the fight against drugs, he also said. “Most countries have expressed their willingness to cooperate in these areas.”
No country officially recognizes the Taliban and the UN has said recognition remains virtually impossible, while bans on education and employment for women stay in place.
